In federal court in Portland this week, a man was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for his latest robbery. The U.S. Attorney's Office reports that this fellow, Mitchell Sean Cooley, 51, of Canby, had an extensive criminal history including 21 - twenty-one! - prior state convictions for robbery.

From his history one might safely conclude that the man is a professional robber. With that many cases plus punishment in between, he could not have had much time to learn anything else.

How can someone commit and be prosecuted and convicted for 21 prior robberies without getting hurt or being put away for life?

By being inept, apparently. Being caught 21 times suggests he was not skilled at crime. He also apparently didn't physically harm anybody. If he had in the course of a robbery, he would not have gotten out again as often or as soon.

The trouble may be that for an inept criminal, robbing somebody is too easy. You walk in, threaten someone, get some cash, walk out and drive away. But this is no game and no fun. It is a serious crime that likely affects for years the poor employees who become victims.

Also, people can easily get hurt even if no firearms are involved. In his latest case, this robber received about $3,200 after showing a teller in Portland a pistol in his waistband on July 3, 2008. Then he drove off in his pickup. Spotted by the police, Cooley tossed the money out the window along with what turned out to be an air pistol. He was caught after causing a crash on I-205.

Now he'll be gone for a while, but others are still around.

Last year, the rate of robberies of all types in Oregon was below the national average. But in October, the FBI said Oregon had 136 bank robberies so far this year and the expected yearly total, 170 to 190, is high compared to the past few years.

We need a way to discourage and prevent holdups without running the risk of anybody getting hurt. Maybe banks, especially, have to adopt those windows with plexiglass so tellers can tell a would-be robber to just go away. (hh)